Turquoise Waters
by CrispyNugget
Summary: A Lapidot pirate AU, Lapis is a pirate captain and Peridot is a princess being held for ransom, I tried to stay accurate to the 1700s.
1. Chapter 1

There had been rumours around the port. Not your everyday scandals and shit-shows, but a fearful rumour about a pillaging maurauder who intercepted trading routes and committed bloody murder. Soon these stories struck fear or inspiration into the hearts of grubby kids whose mothers told them bedtime stories to stop them from being brats. whispers told that this captain was a woman, which was preposterous at the time, no one took it seriously. The thing was, no one had seen them. The crew were skilled at covering their tracks and stayed far from the press. This led people to believe all sorts of tales in their paranoia, the most creative being that she was a siren that led men from all classes to their deaths and seduced women to join her. All of it was mindless drabble though, for this girl was really just a scrawny drunkard.

Captain Lapis Lasuli, a slim, tall girl who wore flowing blue dresses and had tan skin, short black hair and eyes like the ocean trenches was this raider who was so feared by those who dealt in trading overseas. She was a businesswoman, a vixen and a warrior. She was also drunk off her mind and about to fight the biggest man in the tavern. Her sleeves were rolled up and showed off little muscle, and she was leaning over the table and sneering in the face of the man who had stashed an ace up his tunic.

'Tryin ta cheat me outta my win eh? we'll settle this over a fist fight.' It wasn't as if she wasn't guilty of stashing cards up her own sleeves, she was just a pissed off drunk, and did it better than this unfortunate chap anyway. Her chair screeched as she wobbled to her feet, no one seemed to notice over the clamour of drunk people and the out of tune piano in the corner, but her firstmate Jasper had spotted her and was pushing past to get to her.

Jasper grasped the back of Lapis' dress but not before the girl threw a knuckle shattering punch into the burly man's jaw. The man stumbled back and glared daggers at them.

'I want no trouble, jes keep yer bitch on a leash alright!' Lapis struggled against the strong grip of Jasper and hurled insults at the man. Jasper understood the situation well enough, she knew Lapis wouldn't be angry over nothing.

'Yeah, right, make sure you keep your cards in your pocket then.' Jasper directed Lapis to the exit, grabbing her other mate Amethyst from the bar, forcing her to leave her fifth shot. Jasper pushed the protesting women from the warm demanour of the bar into the cold night air, boots clacking on the cobble loudly. she whirled on Lapis.

'I told you not to cause trouble, we were supposed to wait here for Pearl to bring us some info and you blew it, bartender's gonna be fuming.' Lapis rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

'Was just tryin to make a bit of coin here, then the bastard drops an ace? Deserves to be cut down a size if you ask me.'

'Yous never let me stay in there for more than an hour.' Amethyst sulked. Jasper sighed at them.

'Pearl will be here in a minute, calm yer tits.' Sure enough, a shady looking Pearl came around the corner and handed Jasper a roll of paper.

'I take it chief is too drunk off her mind to read this?' Jasper gave a nod and examined the page.

'Looks good enough.' She traced around the paper.

'So this is the trading route for the Diamond?.' Pearl nodded.

'I got it from a reliable source, Lapis should want to prepare in the morning if shes not too hungover.' Jasper took a look at the Captain, who was currently trying to lick sticky alcohol off her elbow and causing Amethyst to guffaw.

'Aye, she should be fine, i'll make sure she gets off her ass anyway... d'you even think it'll work? this is our biggest tackle yet.' Pearl nods.

'I have everything planned, we can drive them into some rocks near here if we're careful enough, and relentless.'

Jasper schemed with pearl about their plans until she had had just about enough of Lapis groaning about her headache and how her knuckles hurt, they went to each of their quarters in the boat. Jasper tended to Lapis' hand, not being too gentle about it either.

'Ow, fucking watch it.' Jasper paid her no mind but went a little slower with the bandaging. She made sure Lapis could actually get into her hammock. She leaned in the door frame and spoke.

'You should probably stop drinkin yourself silly boss.' Lapis pulled off her dress and flung it in a crate under the hammock.

'Yeah sure, try to convince me again an i'll cut a hole in your hammock in the middle of the night.' She pulled on a tunic and clambered into the hammock as Jasper smirked.

'Alright, alright, just get some sleep. You need to be ready for tomorrow.' she left, closing the door gently. Lapis stared at the ceiling and rubbed her bad hand as the boat rocked gently to and fro.


	2. Chapter 2

Peridot struggled to pin her unruly blonde hair back, huffing at the mirror. The rocking of the boat was taunting her efforts to look presentable, She was royalty after all, looking nice was a must even though it was a fucking pain. She gave a growl and finally pinned her hair, albeit sloppily. suddenly she felt nauseous.

'God just get me out of here.' she breathed. A dumb trip to a conference with some tradesmen and her uncle and she just had to come along too. She didn't know if she could bear the nausea for more than a week. Though she had no input whatsoever, that was left to her father. She just had to sit there an look pretty and listen and nod. She didn't mind the smell, or the banter with the crew members, it was just the fact that she was utterly useless and felt queasy at every moment. She couldn't help with anything and just sat in her quarter until she was needed, it was humiliating. A knock at her door and a friendly voice piped up.

'Peridot? Please don't tell me you're going to hurl again.' Peridot's expresion softened as Ruby walked in timidly.

'I can't promise i won't.' Ruby was a friendly, but tempered girl. she had quite curly hair with light brown skin, she sported a red bandanna to hold her curls back and wasn't much taller than Peridot. She was different from the rest of the crew since she was a girl, but was mistaken for a boy and taken for the job anyway. Peridot sought companionship from anyone on the crew who wasn't an alcoholic or a sleaze. She met maid named Sapphire and a cabin 'boy' named Ruby, they were total opposites and quite refreshing to talk to when she wasn't dealing with royal stuff.

'D'you need anything?' Ruby shuffled around anxiously. Peridot scoffed.

'Drop the act and sit down Ruby, we can just talk like normal people y'know.' Ruby smiled and sat down on the fancy bed, Peridot turning on her stool to speak to her properly.

'So, any luck with Sapphire?' Ruby's leg bounced and she nodded vigorously.

'Yeah, we talked all last night and she gave me a kiss on the cheek before i went to my cabin. I was... it was... she's so cute.' Peridot laughed as the other girl blushed bright red.

'Guess i won the bet then, hehehe.' The Laugher was infectous. Soon there were loud footsteps, someone had heard. and Ruby stopped laughing as a crewhand stepped in the room and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

'Rubin, get to the upper deck before i throw you off the ship, Lars needs help movin' crates.' Both she and Peridot stood up, Ruby gave Peridot an apologetic look before she ducked under the man's arm and hurried out.

He waited til she was gone and then closed the door, blocking the exit. He sneered at Peridot who became wary.

'Shouldn't you be going to the upper deck? I'm sure they would appreciate your help.' He shook his head.

'Won't be needin' me til later, besides, i wus told to watch you in case you decided to run while this whole assassination thing is goin on.' He took a step forward with a sickening expression, _what the hell?_

'Maybe you could help me pass the time a bit eh? jes til yer fa is lying dead as a dog.' Her heart leapt in her throat as he advanced quickly to grab her wrist, she twisted to get away and then everything was so fast-

the ship was shaking and wood splintered-

there was a huge hole in the bulkhead and a violent lurch and the ship was turning-

the man had disappeared, _where did he go?_ Peridot scrambled for purchase and grabbed the bed pole before another shudder racked the ship, she knew what it meant. We've run aground. She needed a moment to get her bearings before she stifled her panic and made her way bravely away from the debris that used to be her cabin. She could hear that the top deck was in uproar, and instantly knew what was going on.

'Pirates.' she whispered under her breath. Despite her conscience screaming at her not to go up the stairs, she went and peeked through a crack in the door at the battle that was going on. blood and spittle, clashing of swords and rapiers and broken teeth flying. Her eyes widened in horror and someone clamped a hand over her mouth. She struggled as they pulled her back and she bit down hard.

'Ow fuck.' She heard Ruby shout-whisper, she turned quickly and met Sapphire and Ruby, looking terrified, well, Ruby was currently swearing like the sailor she was and Sapphire looked sheet white.

'Shit, i'm sorry Ruby. Do you know what's happening?'

'Well, currently everyone on this ship wants to either murder you or capture you so I believe we should hide.' Sapphire answered frantically. Ruby looked miserable as she cradled her bleeding hand.

'Yeah what she said.' Sapphire grabbed their hands and led them away from the door.

'We can hide in the storage, but not forever because they will check and they will kill us.

'They hurried down the passageways until Sapphire stopped, causing a chain reaction of Ruby bumping into her and Peridot bumping into Ruby. There was a bloodthirsty man who Peridot recognized as one of the crew members, and he was staring right at her, blood staining his shirt. Ruby stepped forward and shielded the others.

'Run you dipshits, he's gonna kill us!' Didn't need to tell them twice. They bolted round the corner, picking up the pace as he was gaining on them.

The stairs were finally visible and suddenly thud, Peridot got her feet caught in rope and she fell hard. her dress was torn on a nail which barely missed her leg. fuck, this is how I go. the man raised his sword, Ruby shouted and she heard the clang and screech of metal on metal. she turned and gaped as a tall, beautiful woman in a revealing blue dress and brown leggings parried his blow. Her face contorted in a snarl and she got in close, giving the man a shove with her elbow so that he was against the bulkhead. She smacked her head into his and stabbed him in the shoulder, He shrieked, dropping the sword and clutching his fore head, she slammed his head again and he fell unconscious. The woman panted, sweat and blood plastered hairs to her forehead. She pointed her sword extravagantly at Peridot and grinned.

'Found you.'


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby stormed forward towards Lapis.

'Don't you dare-' Lapis pushed Ruby up against the bulkhead and looked her in the eye.

'You'll be a pincushion too with that attitude.' Ruby struggled against her but Lapis wouldn't budge. She waved her sword at the three girls.

'You're all staying til Jasper gets here, and i won't tolerate brats.' Peridot was mesmerized by the power of this woman. She heard footsteps and a hulking woman with tan skin appeared, looking quizzically at them.

'Can't believe you did this with the worst hangover of your life and broken knuckles too.' Peridot was catching flies. The woman, Jasper, gave a hearty laugh and helped her up.

'Cat got yer tongue kid?' Lapis raised an eyebrow and gestured angrily with her sword.

'That _kid_ is the royal, you don't need to stoop to her level.'

'What are you going to do with us?' Sapphire spoke timidly. Jasper looked at her and then at Ruby, rubbing her chin. She whispered to Lapis.

'What're we gonna do with the labour?' Lapis thought a moment.

'Take em with us, we could probably pay them twice as much as these fuckers would've in the long run.' Jasper shrugged and grabbed the arms of Peridot and Sapphire.

'Let go of me!' Peridot protested and struggled but it was obviously in vain, these were experienced fighters with a history of blood. There was nothing they could do.

Once they got to the top deck it seemed like everyone on her crew was dead. There was blood everywhere and it made Peridot sick to her stomach. Sapphire refused to look anywhere but down and Ruby kept making snarky remarks at Lapis who laughed every time. Jasper actually had to force Peridot to turn her head away.

'Get used to it kid' Peridot gave a growl.

'Don't call me a kid.' Jasper laughed.

'You might as well be one, now keep walking.' They were led onto an intimidating boat where Lapis' crew members were dumping their crates. Suddenly all eyes were on them, the clamour had stopped. Obviously they were waiting for their captain to speak. Lapis rolled her eyes and stepped up onto a crate. She announced.

'Guess what, i've finally found a way to fix the royal pain in my ass.' They bellowed with laughter.

'Good work today, you're all free to drink once we anchor, get all the loot down to the lowest deck and someone tell Pearl to come see me.' Everyone gave a cheer apart from the three solemn girls who were dragged down to the lowest deck.

Peridot was given a cramped room and wasn't handled too lightly, she didn't see where Sapphire and Ruby were taken so an anxious feeling crept into her throat. Her heart raced as Lapis closed the door behind her and leaned on a barrel casually.

'Sit down, don't need to be so anxious princess.' Her words weren't venomous, but they weren't exactly friendly either. She sat on a crate and laced her hands together on her lap after smoothing her torn dress. Lapis scoffed as Peridot remained silent.

'C'mon i just wanna talk. You want an explanation before your life becomes hell right?' Peridot whipped her head up to look at the other.

'What do you mean?' Lapis smirked, it almost looked sympathetic, she dragged a crate over and sat, it would've almost looked comical with her long legs but Peridot didn't dare laugh.

'You're going to be held for ransom and no one's really gonna be treating you nicely here, I mean, a bunch of marauders, and a princess? Not likely, and no one really likes you royals anyways.' Peridot huffed, visibly vexed now.

'So what do i do? Just sit here until my relatives offer you bouts of money?' Lapis made a weighing motion and shrugged.

'Well you could, or you could do work for us in exchange for food and a moderate living space.' Peridot looked at her like she was crazy and Lapis laughed.

'What? you didn't expect me to just let you sit here and treat you like the royalty you are? no, you're workin for me until we can get rid of you, and its gonna be hard labour too. Not gonna be pretty.' She got up and brushed herself off.

'Come upstairs when you're ready, gotta start soon as possible though. I make the rules around here, don't look so shocked.' She walked out, not before giving a wink to a gawking Peridot. Peridot shuddered as Lapis left.

'She's mad, i'm stuck here with a bunch of mad people.' she buried her head in her hands and sighed.

Later, Peridot made her way upstairs, wondering why Lapis gave her free reign to roam the boat. Oh yeah, its a boat. it's not like you could just swim all the way back to the castle you clod. She peeked around the door at the deck, there were a couple of crew members laying around, some were maintaining the sails and ropes and cleaning the deck. Someone grabbed her shoulder and she yelped. It was Lapis, towering over her slightly and smirking. Peridot stumbled through the doorway into the open air, the sky was clear and full of fluffy clouds. She couldn't help but look around at the beautiful day. She gawked at the mast and the sails and the ladders, this boat was much more extravagant than her previous.

'Princess, I'm over here, not up there.' Peridot turned back to her, a light blush on her cheeks.

'What? You act like you've never been outside in your life.' Peridot shrugged.

'Actually i don't go out that often, I was committed to studying and all that.' Lapis looked surprised, but wasted no time getting down to business.

'D'you know how to tie a rope?' Peridot shook her head.

'Raise a sail?' again.

'Climb a jacob's ladder?' Peridot looked confused.

'What's that?' Lapis was silent in thought for a minute, Peridot squirmed with discomfort.

'Okay, we'll just have to teach you this as you go along.' She grabbed Peridot's wrist and tugged her away, ignoring the protest.

She led her into a room which was obviously a kitchen as there was a pot of water boiling over the fire. Lapis let go and Peridot held her wrist, Lapis didn't really seem to care when she hurt others, guess it came with being a murderer. Lapis insulated the fire with a bucket of ash so it couldn't heat the water anymore. She scoured a crate for something and came out with a long tunic and some leggings.

'Put these on, your boots should be okay for this as well.' Lapis disappeared abruptly, so Peridot undressed and pulled the leggings on. Lapis came in again a second later before Peridot put the tunic on, and she scrambled to do so, her face reddening. Lapis didn't pay any attention, she just went to the pot and dumped the water in a bucket with an old mop. Peridot muttered.

'You're quite indecent you know.' Lapis had obviously heard, because she answered with.

'Aye, and you're quite the prude.' Peridot spluttered and Lapis looked amused. Jasper came hulking in the doorway.

'Don't be an ass Lapis, the poor girl's just a priss, she doesn't know any better.' Lapis gave a huff.

'Like you wouldn't do the same.' Jasper shrugged.

'I'd at least wait a day.' Peridot looked at them uncomfortably.

'What should i do now?' Lapis looked at her like she had just realized she was still there.

'Take these.' She shoved the bucket and mop into Peridot's hands.

'Come with me.' They left Jasper to do whatever she was doing in the kitchen and went to the top deck. Peridot spotted Sapphire, cleaning the taffrail and tending to ropes. She quickly scurried over to her companion when Lapis was distracted talking to another crew member.

'Peridot!' Sapphire quickly hugged her.

'I was frightened when we got separated.' Peridot smiled warmly.

'Yeah, I didn't know what was going to happen to you two.' Sapphire glanced behind Peridot.

'Quick, she's going to notice.' Peridot turned to Lapis who gave her a flick on the head, Peridot quickly covered it with an 'Ow.'

'Princess, this is Pearl, shes my quartermaster, if you don't know what that means because you're a halfwit, its a navigator.' Lapis spoke slowly, as if she were speaking to a child. Peridot opened her mouth to protest but Lapis silenced her.

'Go to Pearl or Jasper if you can't find me, you too Sapphire.' Peridot scowled.

'I have a name too' Lapis looked at her, amused.

'And what would that be?' Peridot almost wanted her to say something condescending. 'It's Peridot.' Here it was.

'Alright, your higness'. All she wanted to do in that moment was give Lapis a piece of her mind, but she maintained herself.

'I'll get to work.' Lapis seemed amused as Peridot walked past her to the further side of the deck and started to work.

'Maybe you should try to be less horrible to people.' Pearl suggested. Lapis pointed at her.

'Shut it, go make your star maps or whatever.' Pearl shook her head and gave a quaint smile.

'Yes, i surely will make my 'star maps'' she left and Lapis scowled.

'Idiot.' She didn't know if she was referring to herself, Peridot or Pearl, so she just made her way to her quarters, flustered.


	4. Chapter 4

Sure enough, Lapis fulfilled her promise. Peridot was given food, and a proper cabin and hammock. She awoke groggily in the night, her muscles painful and heavy. Of course she wasn't used to work, she always had everything done for her and wasn't allowed the slightest bit of independence. Peridot had always wanted to be creative, to work and study and make things, but she had always been stuck until now. It felt good for her muscles to ache, even though she easily had many bruises on her pristine skin where she had dropped something or slipped on the deck. She sat up and nearly fell out of her hammock. Oh, right, boat. She was still getting used to boats, thought the nausea had calmed down quite a bit. She looked around the cosy cabin, it was calm, serene. The creaking and sounds of waves contributed to the atmosphere. Peridot's attention was drawn to the noise above, it sounded like most of the crew was up there having a good time. She felt a pang of sadness as she wished she could join them, that wasn't exactly possible as Lapis had firmly locked the door. It wouldn't budge, she had tried, though she didn't exactly know what she would do. Get revenge for Lapis basically ruining her life and killing her parents? Though she hadn't actually ruined her life... and she didn't feel anything for her parents.

Peridot slipped out of her hammock and went to try the door again, it didn't budge. She had tried picking it with her hairpin but to no avail, she didn't know how to pick a lock at all. She flung it away, slumping against the door and groaning, too fatigued to get up again. She laughed half-heartedly. They don't exactly do honest pay for honest work here, or else my legs wouldn't be jelly. She rubbed her forehead as there was a knock at the door. She jumped up.

'Who's there?' she heard some muttering and then it was Ruby who answered.

'Hey, it's just me. Sapphire's here too, we're gonna try to get out.' Peridot listened through the door and her eyebrows furrowed.

'How are we going to get off the boat you clod.' She heard a click, and then another.

'There's a lifeboat, if we can figure out how to get it down with enough supplies without alerting everyone we should be okay.' There was a final click, she stepped back and the door opened. Sapphire and Ruby both wrapped her in a hug.

'We have to be quiet.' Sapphire muttered softly. They crept as silent as they could through the passageways and up the stairway. The clamour and music was louder up here and they saw a warm light through a crack in the doorway. Ruby hurried past, holding onto Sapphire's hand as they went up the stairs, but Peridot hung back.

She peeked through the crack in the door, seeing a table with nearly the whole crew laughing and shouting and singing and clapping. Lapis herself had one leg up on the table and was aiming with a dagger at a painting of a nude woman on the wall. she was obviously drunk as she wore a big captains hat with an array of fancy feathers, it half covered her face so she had to lean her head awkwardly to the side. Jasper was currently collecting banknotes in a pile, betting whether Lapis would hit it or not.

'Go on ye bastard.' someone shouted. Lapis yelled back over her shoulder.

'Arright, arright i'm gonna.' She drew her arm back and chucked the knife at the painting, hitting it square in the face. They cheered, and Jasper divided the winnings among them. Peridot couldn't help but smile at this display, but it was quickly exchanged for an expression of horror as she realised Lapis was staring right at her. They stared for at least ten seconds before Lapis looked away and began chatting with jasper.

 _That didn't seem right. wasn't she supposed to draw her sword and start chasing them?_ She scrambled away from the door, dread in the pit of her stomach. _we'll be fine, we'll get out._ She bolted up the stairs and over to Ruby, panting. Ruby was currently loading crates into the boat, Sapphire sorting through them.

'What took you so long? we thought you'd been caught and we were about to leave without you.' Peridot caught her breath.

'It was nothing, everything's fine.' She helped Ruby load the last crate and they clambered in. Ruby puzzled around the boat.

'Okay uhh... untie that rope there.' Peridot untied it and Ruby untied the other, the tried feeding the ropes to the pulleys but it wouldn't budge, it was jammed entirely. Peridot's blood ran cold. That's why she didn't do anything. Her voice was shaky.

'We need to get out of here, back to the-' Sapphire gasped as Peridot was hoisted into the air by a Jasper and thrown back onto the ship where she landed on her back.

'What the fuck do you think you're doing.' She bellowed. Peridot lashed out in fear but realised Jasper wouldn't hurt her... badly at least. she scrambled to give an excuse.

'I- I'm-' Someone lay a sickeningly gentle hand on her shoulder and she went rigid.

'Jasper, don't hurt the poor girl.' Lapis lifted her up and put an arm round her shoulder. Jasper stood silent, still looking bitter but understanding that Lapis wouldn't have any of it.

'Oh come now, no need to be so tense princess.' Suddenly there was a vice-like grip on her arm and she cried out, blood ran red down to her elbow. Lapis was furious, obviously.

'Your little trio will be doing every scrap of work i can find for you tomorrow, until then i'll be having your lock picks.' She spat the words viciously. Lapis ransacked their pockets and shut them in their rooms. Peridot was shaken at the ferocity of the captain. She curled up that night in her hammock, dread lingering in every part of her body.


End file.
